Rail-joint.



H. W. S'AWYBR'. RAIL JOINT.

APPLIGATION FILED JULES), 1909.

961,027. Patented June 7,1910.

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HENRY W. SAWYER, 0F HURON, SOUTH DAKOTA.

RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jun@ 191@ Application led July9, 1909.

Serial No. 506,822.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY W. SAWYER, a native-born citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Huron, in the county of Beadle and State of SouthDakota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rail joints, the object in view being toprovide a thoroughly braced rail joint which provides a practi callycontinuous or unbroken rail thereby preventing the usual pounding of thewheel at the various points and also materially increasing the life anddurability of each and every joint along the road.

A further object of the invention is to provide a joint, theconstruction of which will admit of the rail ends being easily andaccurately brought together by an endwise movement, the overlappingportions of the rail ends being firmly secured together in a mannerwhich will admit of the necessary movement for expansion and contractiondue to changes in the Weather.

lVith the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will morefully appear Y as the description proceeds, the invention consists inthe novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinfully described, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a plan view of a joint. Fig. 2is a side elevation of the same. Fi 3 is a horizontal section throughthe joint. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section through the joint on theline 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 designate rail ends which meet on amiter or bevel joint indicated at 3. In order to produce this joint, therail ends are provided with tapering extremities 4 and 5 which terminatein acute angle points 6, the latter being received in correspondingnotches 7 with which each rail end is provided, as shown in Fig. 1. Thejoint dened by the meeting line 3 and the points and notches 6 and 7extend vertically through the rail from top to bottom including the baseflanges 8. Furthermore, the web portions 9 of the rail ends arelaterally deiected as shown in Fig. 3 and lie side-by-side in con tactwith each other.

In connection with the joint thus far described, I employ a pair ofshims 10 each having its inner end beveled to a point, as

shown at 11, the shim being also provided with a base liange 12 whichextends downward around the outer edge of the base flange 8 and isprovided with a spike notch 13 through which a spike is adapted to bedriven in the tie for securely holding the shim in position. The pointedextremity 11 of the shim lits snugly into the angular space between theweb of one rail and the extremity of the laterally deflected portion 9of the web of the other rail, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The shim issecured to the web of the rail by means of a bolt 14. In connection withthe joint I also employ a pair of fish plates 15 provided with baseflanges 16 having spike-receiving notches 17 through which spikes aredriven into the tie for holding said fish plates firmly in position. Thebolts 14 which pass through the 4shims 10 also pass through the shplates 15, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3. Each fish plate is providedwith a laterally deliected portion 18 and the outer faces of the saidlaterally deflected portions of the fish plate lie in parallel relationto each other and at a slight angle to the general direction of the websof the rail ends, as shown in Fig. 3. Fastening bolts 19 are insertedthrough the fish plates and also through the webs of the rails as shownin Fig. 3 and while the holes for said bolts in the main bodies of thewebs are just of sufficient size to snugly receive the bolt 19, thelaterally deflected end portions of the webs are provided with slots 20through which said bolts pass, the said slots admitting of the necessaryrelative movement of the rail ends to allow for the required expansionand contraction of the rails due to changes in the weather.

The joint hereinabove described will be found strong and effective inuse and by reason of the mitered connection between the rail ends, apractically continuous and unbroken joint is provided which will avoidthe usual pounding and hammering and materially increase the life anddurability of the joint, as a whole.

I claim In a rail joint, rail ends having a beveled or mitered joint andhaving the overlapping portions thereof dove-tailed into each other andalso having the end portions of the webs laterally beveled andoverlapping, fish plates arranged at opposite sides of the overlappingportions of the webs and bolted thereto on opposite sides, and shims ar-In testimony whereof I affix my signature ranged at opposite sides ofthe webs `and in presence of two witnesses. bolted thereto, said shimsembodying taper- HENRY W SAWYER ing extremities which lit between themain 5 body of the webs and the extremities of the Witnesses:

laterally beveled portions thereof, substan- C. A. BLAKE, tially asdescribed. E. L. ABEL.

